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Club hopes breakout game gets Hicks clicking

Twins rookie center fielder robs home run, swats pair of solo shots

5/13/13: Aaron Hicks makes a great leaping catch at the wall in center field to rob Adam Dunn of a two-run homer in the Twins' 10-3 win

By Rhett Bollinger
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MLB.com |

MINNEAPOLIS -- With a breakout game against the White Sox on Monday, the Twins are hoping rookie Aaron Hicks can get on a roll.

Hicks, who entered Monday's game with a .137 average and one homer, had his best game in the Majors, hitting two homers and robbing a potential game-tying homer in center with a leaping catch.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he's hoping it can be a springboard for Hicks, who registered not only his first career multihomer game but his first multihit game.

"It can be," Gardenhire said. "It's just day by day. But the thing about baseball is that you can't take it with you. When you play a game, you have turn around and do it again the next night. So it's about consistency and he understands that part of it. So he has to turn the page and move on, but confidence is a huge part of baseball and right now I would imagine his confidence is at a peak."

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau was impressed by Hicks' performance and thought he was helped by missing two games with a hyperextended elbow to clear his head.

"I think having the couple days off allowed him to regroup and sit back," Morneau said. "We don't need him to be Superman. We just need him to be Aaron Hicks and that's good enough for us. He's capable of being a Major League Baseball player. He doesn't need to be a superstar as soon as he gets here. He just needs to keep working hard and keep trying to get better and he's doing that. I think he's got a lot of good days ahead of him."